Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Fan Fic - The Constant

Chapter Seventy-Five: It's A Wonderful Life

Authors note: This chapter pays homage to one of the all time great movies entitled 'It's A Wonderful Life,' made in 1946 and starring the awesome Jimmy Stewart. Many shows have paid homage to it Red Dwarf (my favourite), The Muppets, The Simpsons, The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, The Big Bang Theory, Warehouse 13, Laverne And Shirley, Beavis And Butthead and countless others have borrowed the film's fantasy premise for their holiday specials.

If you have not had chance to see the film I urge you to. We watch it every Christmas and cry every time. At the end of the chapter I have put the Wiki link up if you want to know more, as well as a link to watch the film on Youtube.

As for the Bad Boys song - well what can I say about that - there is a link as well to that at the end.

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It's A Wonderful Life

"Hey Buck – It's A Wonderful Life!"

He wakes with a start and tries to move, but his whole body aches and he recognises the heat. He is injured. He doesn't know where he is or how he was injured and for a moment he works on calming himself and taking time to access the situation and it comes to him: he was on a mission.

And he had failed. He knows that much.

His head hurts. Not only hurts: it pounds and his ears are buzzing. He tries again to stand but only gets a couple of feet before he has to back up and sit down on the edge of the bed. The room is spinning.

He clutches his head for a few moments thinking that by applying pressure it will make the pain go away. He looks down and sees that the carpet on the floor is a garish orange with a purple pattern but it looks familiar. He looks up and it comes to him. He is in a motel room. The patterned wallpaper is almost as bad as the carpet.

He frowns. He remembers saying that to someone.

And then it all comes flooding back. All at once. He groans and falls back onto the bed.

He has been here for two days. He is alone.

When he first arrived he was with another man. Rollins, it was Rollins who booked them into the room, paying cash for it. Brought in food and drink. Also bought a change of clothing and a few others things he thought the Soldier would need. Soap and antiperspirant was high on the list.

Rollins left him with a knife which was all he could spare and that he had taken from one of the men he left dead at the abandoned garage. He had made sure the Soldier was settled in, reluctantly helped him strip to shower, and that is when the Soldier had discovered the money in his pocket. She always sent him out with it in case he found himself alone. Rollins had not seen it, doesn't know about the other thing he found with the money. And Rollins has left now. It's doubtful they will ever see each other again. He was a man sensible enough to get out whilst he could.

"Thanks. I couldn't have done it without you," the Soldier had said to him. Rollins had hesitated, and then smiled.

"Yeah, you probably could have. Keep your head down." He took the SUV when he left. The Soldier had fallen into bed and slept the rest of the day and night through.

Slowly the Soldier sits up and reaches for the glass of water on the bedside table. His hand is trembling, and not because of the pain of his healing arm. He takes his right hand in his left and massages it then tries again and this time it is not so bad. He takes a gulp of water and then a deep breath.

He needs a plan. He needs to decide what he is going to do. The serum has done a good job of healing him except for his right arm, but he will worry about that another time. He makes another attempt to stand, and this time finds it easier and he heads for the bathroom with the intention of taking a shower. He then dresses in jeans, a black tee shirt and blue lumberjack shirt and trainers. And gloves. He must never forget the gloves.